Men’s Royal Rumble 2022 Match Time and Statistics

By Cain A. Knight Feb 13, 2022, 4:00pm EST

The 2022 men’s Royal Rumble match lasted 51 minutes and 14 seconds (51m 14s).

This text graphic provides time stamps for each superstar’s arrival and exit from the match, as well as showing who the longest lasting superstars were as the match progressed.

For comparison’s sake, here are other versions of this graphic for Royal Rumble matches from 1988, 1992, 2003, 2007, 2009, and 2013.

Survival Times

The survival time for a superstar is the time that lapses between the point when he steps foot into the ring and the time that his feet hit the floor to signal elimination. This does not include the time it takes for a superstar to make his way from the entrance ramp down to the actual ring.

The average superstar survival time for the 2022 men’s Royal Rumble match was 9m 15s and the median survival time was 7m 09s. The median value is less influenced by outliers at either extreme.

Here is the full list of survival times for all 30 superstars:

29m 06s: AJ Styles
22m 06s: Austin Theory
20m 46s: Dolph Ziggler
19m 47s: ~~Matt~~ Riddle
19m 17s: Drew McIntyre
19m 12s: Ridge Holland
17m 55s: Sheamus
11m 12s: Kevin Owens
11m 04s: Damian Priest
10m 46s: Happy Corbin
9m 09s: Montez Ford
9m 03s: Rey Mysterio
8m 52s: Otis
8m 16s: Chad Gable
7m 41s: Bad Bunny
6m 37s: Big E
5m 52s: Shinsuke Nakamura
5m 38s: Shane McMahon
4m 44s: Ricochet
4m 33s: Rick Boogs
4m 25s: Omos
4m 25s: Madcap Moss
3m 44s: Dominik Mysterio
3m 17s: Sami Zayn
2m 33s: Brock Lesnar
2m 22s: Randy Orton
2m 13s: Angelo Dawkins
1m 26s: Johnny Knoxville
0m 55s: Robert Roode
0m 21s: Kofi Kingston

Every listed time above should be viewed with a margin of error of about two seconds or so.

These survival times all fall within two seconds of the numbers listed on WWE’s web site, with one exception. WWE lists Ricochet as surviving for 4m 23s, whereas I have him at 4m 44s. I double checked his appearance in the match, and while I can see maybe a second or two being shaved off the time I have listed for him, it’s not clear how they came up with a number that is 21 seconds lower than mine.

There was about a one second delay between the time when McIntyre’s feet hit the floor to signal his elimination and when the bell rang to officially end the match. I added this extra second onto Brock Lesnar’s survival time.

Kofi Kingston’s annual spot where he saves himself from elimination was botched. As a result, he ended up with the worst survival time in the match, only lasting 21 seconds.

Kofi’s early exit may have changed whatever spots were also planned in the match for Big E, since they had nearly adjacent entry positions in the match. The former WWE champion’s survival time of 6m 37s fell below the median line. His elimination wasn’t particularly noteworthy, as RK-Bro tossed him out without much of a fuss.

Bad Bunny’s survival time (7m 41s) beat out half of the 30 man field, including Big E.

Hometown hero Randy Orton drew number 29 and only lasted 2m 22s, a bottom five survival time for the match. It’s as if WWE loves beating their hometown stars or something.

Sami Zayn (3m 17s) can brag that he had a longer survival time than Brock Lesnar (2m 33s). It’s fitting that these two Canadian alpha males rank right next to each other on the above list.

Only three wrestlers lasted longer than 20 minutes.

Raise your hand if you predicted that Dolph Ziggler would have a top three survival time in this match, or that Ridge Holland would have the 6th longest survival time. I don’t see any hands raised.

Even though Sheamus (17m 55s) and Kevin Owens (11m 12s) rank right next to each other on the list of survival times, there is a rather large gap between their actual times; no wrestler had a survival time fall within that range.

AJ Styles was the Iron Man of this match with a survival time of 29m 06s. The last time a Royal Rumble Iron Man had a survival time of under 30 minutes was when John Cena did it in 2010.

The overall match time of 51m 14s is relatively quick for a 30-person Rumble with at least 90 second intervals. The only shorter ones I can find are 1997 and 2010. This can be partially attributed to Brock Lesnar entering the match at number 30 and eliminating every remaining wrestler in less than three minutes to win it. His survival time of 2m 33s is the shortest ever for the Rumble winner.

You can find information on the elimination order here.

Entrance Times

Here are the entrance times for each superstar involved. This is the amount of time that passed between an entrance buzzer going off and when the superstar finally stepped foot into the actual ring. The first two entrants (Styles, Nakamura) are excluded because their entrances took place prior to the start of the match.

0m 44s: Drew McIntyre
0m 42s: Omos
0m 40s: Randy Orton
0m 36s: Brock Lesnar
0m 35s: Theory, Sheamus
0m 33s: ~~Matt~~ Riddle
0m 32s: Kevin Owens
0m 30s: Johnny Knoxville
0m 27s: Montez Ford
0m 26s: Bad Bunny
0m 25s: Gable, Otis, Big E
0m 24s: Kingston, McMahon
0m 23s: Ridge Holland
0m 22s: Roode, Rey Mysterio
0m 19s: Dolph Ziggler
0m 16s: Zayn, Boogs
0m 14s: Priest, Corbin, Moss
0m 13s: Ricochet
0m 11s: Angelo Dawkins
0m 10s: Dominik Mysterio

The way I record this data is that the entrance time for a superstar ends when their survival time begins.

The median entrance time in the men’s Royal Rumble was 24.5 seconds. The women’s median entrance time on the same card was five seconds longer.

There weren’t a lot of noteworthy shenanigans going on during these entrances to explain some of the longer times. Surprise entrants like Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar took their time walking to the ring and standing on the ring apron a bit before entering the match. Kevin Owens’ entrance included an exchange of fisticuffs with McIntyre outside the ring. Sheamus consoled freshly-eliminated Ridge Holland for a few moments before entering the match.

These entrance times add up to 11m 37s, which means that a superstar was in the midst of his entrance for approximately 22.7% of the match.

Follow the Buzzers

WWE stated that there would be 90-second waiting intervals between each entrant in the 2022 men’s Royal Rumble match. How well did WWE stick to that claim? Here are the waiting times between all 28 buzzers, in chronological order:

1m 30s: Buzzer 1 - Austin Theory
1m 46s: Buzzer 2 - Robert Roode
2m 01s: Buzzer 3 - Ridge Holland
1m 30s: Buzzer 4 - Montez Ford
1m 32s: Buzzer 5 - Damian Priest
1m 34s: Buzzer 6 - Sami Zayn
1m 27s: Buzzer 7 - Johnny Knoxville
2m 24s: Buzzer 8 - Angelo Dawkins
1m 26s: Buzzer 9 - Omos
1m 55s: Buzzer 10 - Ricochet
1m 22s: Buzzer 11 - Chad Gable
1m 30s: Buzzer 12 - Dominik Mysterio
1m 23s: Buzzer 13 - Happy Corbin
1m 26s: Buzzer 14 - Dolph Ziggler
1m 42s: Buzzer 15 - Sheamus
1m 27s: Buzzer 16 - Rick Boogs
1m 43s: Buzzer 17 - Madcap Moss
1m 53s: Buzzer 18 - ~~Matt~~ Riddle
1m 41s: Buzzer 19 - Drew McIntyre
2m 09s: Buzzer 20 - Kevin Owens
1m 29s: Buzzer 21 - Rey Mysterio
1m 33s: Buzzer 22 - Kofi Kingston
1m 47s: Buzzer 23 - Otis
1m 48s: Buzzer 24 - Big E
1m 37s: Buzzer 25 - Bad Bunny
2m 34s: Buzzer 26 - Shane McMahon
1m 59s: Buzzer 27 - Randy Orton
1m 57s: Buzzer 28 - Brock Lesnar

The average waiting period was 1m 43s, and the median time was 1m 39s.

11 of the 28 waiting periods fell within five seconds of the 90-second goal. 14 of the 28 waiting periods came within 10 seconds of the 90-second goal. Seven of the 30 intervals lasted less than than 90 seconds, according to these results.

Six of the waiting periods lasted longer than 1m 55s, so here is some context behind those intervals, in chronological order:

The waiting period between Robert Roode and Ridge Holland lasted 2m 01s. Roode entered the ring and dished out a couple spinebusters before having a one-on-one battle with AJ Styles. This resulted in Roode’s elimination. Shinsuke Nakamura and Austin Theory then went back and forth for a bit before the countdown clock counted down from 10.
The waiting period between Johnny Knoxville and Angelo Dawkins lasted 2m 24s. This interval included Knoxville’s entire survival time in the match. Sami Zayn eliminated the Jackass star, Styles tossed out Zayn, and then the countdown clock appeared on the screen.
The waiting period between Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens lasted 2m 09s. This was McIntyre’s surprise return from the injured list. He beat the hell out of Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss. After eliminating them both, Drew continued the beatdown outside the ring until the clock counted down for Owens’ entrance.
The final three waiting periods of the match also ranked among the six longest intervals of this Royal Rumble. The longest of the match was 2m 34s, when Bad Bunny entered the match. This included Bunny’s Canadian Destroyer on Riddle, as well as Sheamus being eliminated after missing his Brogue Kick. The period ended with Bunny and Rey Mysterio teaming up to toss out Dolph Ziggler.
That was followed by Shane McMahon’s entry into the match. This period lasted 1m 59s. Rey Mysterio was eliminated by Otis while Shane’s entrance music was playing, before Shane even appeared. Shane unleashed a barrage of his terrible punches on Owens and Riddle, which led to McMahon tossing out KO. McMahon and McIntyre went at it in the corner for the reminder of the period.
Randy Orton was up next, and this waiting period lasted 1m 57s. Orton took 40 seconds to walk down to the ring. Orton and Riddle teamed up to toss out both Big E and Otis. Riddle and Shane went one-on-one while Orton directed his attention towards Bunny and McIntyre. The stage was set for Brock Lesnar to be the final entrant.

Two of the waiting intervals lasted under 1m 25s, and they both involved Omos. The first one lasted 1m 22s and saw Ricochet enter the match. Omos dominated the ring during this period, but nobody was eliminated. Chad Gable came out next for a period that lasted 1m 30s. He tried to convince everyone in the ring to go along with his master plan for eliminating Omos. Dominik Mysterio came out for the next period. This one lasted 1m 23s. It included the elimination of Omos early on. Nothing noteworthy happened for the remainder of this period.

The first 14 waiting intervals (out of 28 total) included the 10 shortest periods of the night. Many of the biggest stars were held off until the latter part of the match, and WWE may have been trying to ensure the show finished before going over four hours.

In a perfectly timed match, the final buzzer (signaling Lesnar’s entrance) would have gone off 42m 00s after the start of the match. In reality, this buzzer went off at 48m 05s.

Ring Crowdedness

If you add up each wrestler’s survival time, it results in a total survival time of 4h 37m 17s. Given that the match lasted a total of 51m 14s, that comes out to an average of 5.4 competitors in the ring at any given second. This is the 25th or 26th most crowded Royal Rumble match ever out of all 41 matches, depending on whether or not you adjust the count for the most egregious examples of superstars who were still active but took significantly long absences from the ring, like with Vince McMahon in 1999.

When I talk about how many superstars were “in the ring,” I’m counting all active superstars in the match, whether they are literally inside the ring or not. It does not, however, count a wrestler’s time outside the ring prior to initially stepping foot into the ring.

Here is a more accurate way to understand how many men were active at any given time. This chart shows the total time that the ring was filled with an exact number of discrete superstars at once.

2022 Men’s Royal Rumble Ring Crowdedness

Active Wrestlers	Total Time	% of Match Time	Cumulative %
Active Wrestlers	Total Time	% of Match Time	Cumulative %
1	0m 01s	0.0	0.0
2	3m 07s	6.1	6.1
3	4m 22s	8.5	14.6
4	4m 19s	8.4	23.1
5	10m 51s	21.2	44.2
6	17m 58s	35.1	79.3
7	7m 08s	13.9	93.2
8	2m 31s	4.9	98.1
9	0m 57s	1.9	100

The table shows that the ring included exactly five or six superstars for a total time of 28m 49, which is 56.2% of the match.

Due to the early eliminations of Robert Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura the ring depth did not reach five superstars for the first time until the timestamp 8m 33s, when Damian Priest entered the ring at entry number seven.

The longest time span with zero eliminations was 7 minutes and 24 seconds, between the timestamps of 5m 52s and 13m 16s, bounded by the eliminations of Nakamura and Johnny Knoxville. The wrestlers who entered the ring during this time were Montez Ford, Priest, Sami Zayn, and Knoxville.

When Priest entered the match at 8m 33s, the ring depth fluctuated between five and seven active superstars through the timestamp 24m 52s. This part of the match included the aforementioned Knoxville story, as well as Omos’ entire survival time of 4m 25s.

That timestamp of 24m 52s is when Ridge Holland was eliminated towards the very end of Sheamus’ entrance, leaving only four men (Styles, Gable, Corbin, Ziggler) in the ring.

Sheamus entered the ring 11 seconds later (at 25m 03s), bringing the depth back up to five. It fluctuated between five and six wrestlers until the timestamp 33m 53s, when McIntyre had cleared both Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin from the ring. Sheamus, Corbin, and Ziggler accounted for three of the active superstar count during this range of time.

There was another 5+ minute duration with zero eliminations between the timestamps 37m 08s and 42m 58s, bounded by the eliminations of Kofi Kingston and Sheamus. The ring added Otis, Big E, and Bad Bunny during this time.

The above chart shows there were at least seven wrestlers in the ring for a total of only 10m 36s of this Rumble, which is 20.7% of the match. The most crowded portion of the match occurred between the timestamps 40m 23s and 43m 51s, when the ring depth was always at eight or nine superstars. In fact, this is the only time the match ever had more than seven active wrestlers. The peak depth of nine wrestlers was achieved for 57 seconds following Bad Bunny’s entry into the match at 42m 01s.

The crowd was steadily thinned from there, particularly when Randy Orton joined the match at the timestamp 46m 58s. RK-Bro eliminated Big E and Otis from the ring, dropping the ring depth down to five active wrestlers at the timestamp 47m 27s.

End of the Match

Once Brock Lesnar entered the ring at the timestamp 48m 41s, the match essentially turned into a 6-man Battle Royal between Riddle, McIntyre, Bunny, Shane, Orton, and Lesnar.

This final segment of the 2022 men’s Royal Rumble match lasted 2m 33s, and at that point Lesnar emerged as the winner. This is the shortest final segment in the history of the Royal Rumble match. I even clocked in one of the earlier waiting periods as being longer than this final segment, though it’s within the margin of error.

That’s all you need to know about the timing of the 2022 men’s Royal Rumble match. Which numbers do you find to be the most interesting?

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